My Pictures of the Kitchen Installation
My Parents' Story
Brief Outline: Just to fill in a few details first: the people living here at the time were two elderly pensioners 1 of which is disabled and the other recovering from recent illness. I am re-counting my parents' experience here to show examples of their dream kitchen and the shocking mess made as a result of choosing the wrong company and/or fitters to fit their kitchen. They went through 7 months of misery waiting for moben to finish installing the kitchen that they paid nearly £16000 for.
It all began in May 2006 with a trip to the local Moben Showroom and a visit from one of their reps to design and draw up a plan. A contract was drawn up and signed by my parents it all seemed nice and friendly he said yes to nearly everything and my parents fell hook, line and sinker. A deposit was agreed and paid the balance being due when the kitchen was delivered. They was told the work would start in a couple of weeks and was expected to take about a month after the surveyor had been to finalize the plans.
The original plan was to have the plastering and any repairs to the walls done in the first week so the fitters could come and fit the units and tile the walls. One of the first shocks came when they said they couldn't get a tiler to put up the tiles until July 8th - 6 weeks ( WHAT!!! ).
What followed was 7 months of excuses, mess- ups and aggravation. First the fitters turned out to be a single young man - and from day one seemed he seemed well out of his depth. He was careless, messy,incompetent and slow.
After the first week of the installation I kept a day-to-day diary of what went on, the mess-ups the excuses and the letters and phone calls. I thought that this is going to end in court. If you would be interested or like to discuss this please feel free to email me.
What follows is an outline of what went on for 7 months
The Installation
Pictures of
Our Installation photos opens
a new window to thumbnails and slide show
On the morning the fitters were due to arrive we emptied the kitchen of everything. When they arrived we was shocked to find that only one person was sent to do the fit, a young man in a baseball cap. Alarm bells started ringing when he started to remove the old kitchen sink and drained down both the hot and cold water systems completely. He left early pm saying that he couldn't do anything else. Later two electricians come to do some of the wiring - again more mess everywhere not a dust sheet used at all they let all the plaster,mess and dust cover the new units.
In the end they had left my parents with no cooking facilities and no water in the kitchen for 2 days. The hob was connected on the Thursday and the cooker on the Friday. Our fitter didn't turn up again too saturday and left late pm with mess left all over the drive.
By the end of the week my parents had had enough and after making several phone calls asked me to write a letter to Moben which i did using the template at the Consumer Direct Web site. This was sent on the 5th June and again on the 21st June because the work had still not been done. They sent an inspector on the 14th June and went through all the complaints. All this time and no work was done and my parents were waiting to have the granite work tops fitted but could not they were left with temporary work tops ( dusty old chipboard as it turned out - very professional - NOT).
 |
 |
|
|
Kitchen units ripped off the wall and dumped in the garage after the first attempt to fit it went wrong
What are Temporary work surfaces? Well they are not what you might think and certainly not what you would expect . Here are a few examples of what Mobens definition of temporary work surfaces are. I their case Temporary meant as long as it takes fitters to make the units ready to accept the granite work tops we ordered - in their case they were left with them for weeks because of the mismanaged mess made of the kitchen installation.
Nothing could proceed until Moben fixed all the problems with the units - the granite couldn't be installed hence, the tiling couldn't be started.
Finally I sent a letter threatening court action to Moben on the 18th July.
After 4 months
The kitchen was ready for the tiling to commence on the 14th August 12 Weeks after the installation began. After all the letters, visits and phone calls the kitchen was ready for the tiling to commence.
Pictures the tilling begins photos opens
a new window to thumbnails and slide show
Tiling
When they finally got someone to fix the tiles on the wall that had been in the garage for the last 13 weeks while they attempted to install the kitchen. The tiling was completed in a typical Moben Manner - excuses, telephone calls, and mess. It took 2 weeks to complete (well as much as they were going to do anyway until they were threatened with court action).
On the 21st August the first lot of tilers turned up they work for 3 of the 5 days on the first week. Apparently they are going to a concert on the second day and Moben knows about it ( funny Moben didn't tell us ) In the end they didn't turn up on the third day either ( again Moben didn't inform us ). They finished on the friday and said that another tiler would be finishing the tiles. Later after more telephone alls to Moben they arranged to send a tiler on the following Thursday (the 31st). He turned up a day early on the 30th. He complained about the first lot of tilers and said that there was more work than he had been lead to believe.
 |
 |
|
|
|
The tiling (started on 21st august and finally finished on the 15th November 12 WEEKS!!!)
the 1st lot of tilers works 3 of the 5 days, the second took another 4 days. They left mess for us to clean up every day and refused to take away their rubbish after they finished.
Finished Tiling photos Opens a new window with
thumbnails and a slide show
Granite Worktops
I have done some calculations using this site and got quote of £1618 (including VAT) moben charged over £4000 ( I even found the same granite that we had ) for a similar sizes and fitting the company moben used was Jetstone of London THAT'S over DOUBLE IN ANYONES MATHS
Finally we need to take court action
On the 9th October we sent the claim forms to the Local County Court because we believed that was the only way to get any redress for the absolutely awful way that this company had treated us. Remember my parents paid £16000 [approx] for this mismanaged mess, and they wanted to recover some of the cost.
As I am not able to advise on how to make a claim myself I will add some links to other web sites that will be able to help. In fact, it isn't as hard as one might imagine. Well I mean, if i can, you can.
If you need information how to make a claim etc. please take a look at these links:
Small Claims Detailed information of the legal system in England from the Citizens Advice Bureau.
Making a Claim - HMCS In depth look at the procedure to start a claim in the County Court.
In the end they offered £700 compensation which was rejected, later they offered £1350 and all the work that should have been done in the first place. My parents accepted on the 24th October.
Conclusion
Moben Kitchens fit many kitchens in a year and this sorry tale maybe a rare instance of a mismanaged mess. However, when you pay up font and nearly £16000 you expect to get some service and someone professional to fit the kitchen and when things go wrong someone to put them right; We didn't we was supplied with a single person to fit the kitchen and a female inspector (twice 14th June and again on the 24th October) to try to sort things out. A morning wasted on each occasion. When you pay a lot of money you shouldn't have to fight to get them to fulfill their contract.
We heard nearly every excuse you could imagine over the course of the installation. The designer/salesman saying one thing the surveyor saying no the designer was wrong the fitters saying the surveyor was wrong and the fitter ignoring everyone. The tilers saying the plastering was not done properly.
To this day the kitchen still is not what they expected. The way the kitchen was installed by their fitters was appalling several problems still exist and were never fixed properly even after two visits by their inspector. The sinks don't empty correctly and there is a awful smell one one sink is empted. Some of the cupboards crash loudly when closed. fittings still missing. The tiling still not professionally finished. Plastering in several places was abysmal. None of the draws are adjusted correctly and two of the cupboard sides are bowed due to bad fitting.
My parents and I always get anxious nowdays when we employ builders to do things to the house - will their workmen be as bad as the Moben fitters that fitted our kitchen? - will we me messed about by their customer service staff? - will we get value for money? - will we be happy/satified with the finished work?
I hope that no one else has to suffer the dreadful experience that Moben put my parents through for several months in 2006.
